Cheney Splits GOP Ticket Over Same-Sex Marriage

by Bill Fancher and Jenni Parker
August 25, 2004

(AgapePress) - Pro-family leaders are denouncing comments from Vice President Dick Cheney, who said homosexual couples deserve equal freedom when it comes to marriage. Critics say that puts Cheney in the position of disagreeing with President Bush on a key election issue.

Cheney stated this position Tuesday at a town hall meeting in Davenport, Iowa, saying that he and his wife, as the parents of a "gay daughter," are very familiar with the homosexual marriage issue. He added that his personal view is that people "ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to." In his continued remarks, the Vice President reiterated the position he took during the 2000 campaign -- that the states should be allowed to decide the issue of same-sex marriage.

Some conservatives feel Cheney's comments, including the first-time public reference to his homosexual activist daughter as a lesbian, have effectively split the administration on the volatile same-sex marriage controversy. Alluding to Bush's endorsement of a constitutional amendment banning homosexual marriage, the Vice President said his own preference is "as I've stated. But the President makes basic policy for the administration. And he's made it."

Tony Perkins

A number of Christian and pro-family groups expressed disappointment with Cheney's decision to break ranks so publicly with Bush on this issue -- especially at this stage in an election year. In a recent statement, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council noted that the Vice President's comments have complicated the pro-family crowd's already arduous task.

"Unfortunately protection of our values is made more difficult when mixed messages emanate from the White House," Perkins says. "We support President Bush's commitment to a constitutional amendment on marriage, but we are left to wonder why the Vice President is allowed to depart from this position when the top of the ticket is unified on all other issues."

The FRC president says the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman is society's bedrock and needs to be addressed in a unified manner. "If the Vice President perceives the problem of activist judges and their actions, as he stated in his remarks, then how can he not endorse the same solution the President and his pro-family allies have proposed?" Perkins asks.

Clouded Vision or Political Savvy?
And Bob Knight of the Culture and Family Institute observes, "For the Vice President to say things that undermine the institution of marriage and the President's own stated desire to have a federal marriage amendment ... shows that his vision has been clouded, his judgment is awry. He really needs a talking to."

Bob Knight

Although sympathetic to Cheney's position as the father of a lesbian activist, Knight says, "It's one thing to have a problem in your family. It's another to make it a national issue." However, CFI's director also recognizes the possibility that the Vice President's public statements might be a deliberate campaign strategy -- a way for the GOP to appeal to homosexual voters while trying to keep religious conservatives in the fold.

Knight says he can picture the more jaded handlers in the Republican Party looking over at the Democrats and speculating that, since the liberal party has "embraced the entire homosexual agenda," the GOP can "afford to fudge it a little bit."

The pro-family spokesman imagines those Republican cynics saying, "We can have the President push a constitutional [marriage] amendment and have the Vice President cut the legs right out from under it, but we'll still look more conservative than the other party." If that is the case, Knight says it could be an example of cynical politics at its worst.

The apparent Bush-Cheney split over same-sex marriage comes just days prior to the Republican National Convention, which begins next week in New York City. Delegates can be expected to discuss the issue extensively at the GOP event.